FURY JUNIOR MEN MAKE IT 8 NATIONAL TITLES FOR FALKIRK CLUB !

Sony Centre Fury U18 Junior Men gave the Falkirk club their 8th National title of the

 23 -24 season by winning the U18 Play -Off Finals. Fury U18 Men faced Boroughmuir Blaze in the semi-final of the Final 4 Play-Offs and took an 82-73 win in what was a closely contested game with Fury edging it in the final quarter.

The opening 3 periods produced only a 1pt difference between the sides after score lines of 22-22, 21-21 and 20 -19 to Fury. The final stanza saw both teams fight for the win and a place in the Final with Fury making a key push with 5 minutes to play and Daniel Velykyy put Fury ahead 70-67 after a 2pt play. Captain Jack Shand, Alex Low and Velykyy continued to put points on the board and forcing Blaze into a timeout with 3 minutes to play and the score now at 75 -67 for the Sony sponsored side. Andrew Henderson then put Fury 10 clear and that was enough to take Fury into the final against Stirling Knights.

Ukrainian Daniel Velykyy finished top scorer for Fury with 25pts with Jack Shand on 23 and Andrew Henderson on 13. Finlay Morrison and Alex Low shared 14pts.

The Final meant that it was a battle between not only two Central belt teams, but Fury the Scottish Cup winners and Knights the Division 1 League winners after edging Fury on a head to head after both teams finished level. An exciting game was in prospect and both teams lived up to that expectation and only 5pts between the teams after the first 3 periods. Knights had taken the first 15-13 , the teams tied the second and with Knights taking the third 19-16 it was all still to play for. With 6 minutes to play it was Fury Captain Jack Shand who put the Falkirk side ahead for the first time in the 4th with a 2pt play that took the game to a 54-53 Fury 1pt lead. A Shand steal saw Finlay Morrison put Fury 5 clear and Andrew Henderson made it 7 with 5 minutes to play as Fury began to take control of the game down the stretch. With the game at 5pts difference with just over a minute to go it was Shand again who gave Fury some breathing space with a 2 pt play and a 7pt lead. The Knights could not close the gap with Fury running out 10 pt winners and a 72-62 score line.

For the Fury Junior Men it was their second title of the season adding the Play -Off Championship to their Scottish Cup win and for their Coach Keith Bunyan it was his 5th title of the season after his triple trophy season with the Fury Senior Men. It was also great to see hard working JM Assistant Coach Ewan Carlow picking up his second title after coming so close in all 3 Competitions with his Cadet Men's team.

In the final Jack Shand had a 22 pt game and 6 assists, with Shand, regarded by many as the best point guard in the league, rightly picking up the MVP award. Finlay Morrison had 11 pts with Dylan Low on 10. Daniel Velykyy chipped in with 6 pts and 14 rebounds.

Alex Low had 8 with Liam Bouch 7 and Andrew Henderson 6 pts. Gavin Black had 2 pts with Adama Hainey, John Crozier, Cole Mellstrom and Jack McNee completing Fury's team.

Fury JM Coach Keith Bunyan commentated to Heraldsport after the Final -

" Going into the season we knew we had a strong group of players who were all prepared to play for each other and work hard on the concepts we put in place in terms of our offence and defence and over the season the players and team have developed into an excellent side. For the majority of the players it's their last season and to be up beside some of the great Fury Junior teams of the past is a testimony to their ability. "

The Fury Junior Men team had a unique no of Falkirk HS players - 10 of the 12 were from Fury's partner Academy school.